Mel Harding-Shaw
Urban Fantasy romance and Speculative fiction Author
Sign up to my newsletter to read the free Soul Court Ascension prequel short story 'From the Ashes'
SOUL COURT ASCENSION SERIES
OTHER BOOKS
BOOKS
This page provides blurbs and content warnings for my Indie-published books.SOUL COURT ASCENSION SERIES
The Soul Court Ascension trilogy is a fake relationship, enemies to lovers, urban fantasy paranormal romance featuring necromancy, sexy wings and secrets for fans of Kate Daniels and Guild Hunter. It’s part of my Melded Earths world where our Earth of humans and technology has melded with an Earth of winged elementals and magic and it’s set in my hometown of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
You can get a taster by subscribing on my home page to claim the free prequel short story ‘From the Ashes’. If you’re a kindle reader, you can grab the complete trilogy in the ebook box set edition.
City of Souls won Agent's Choice in the RWNZ Great Beginnings Contest, and the standalone MM sequel to the trilogy, Echoes of Earthshine, won Best Novel in the 2025 Sir Julius Vogel Awards.
OTHER SPECULATIVE FICTION BOOKS
Before launching my paranormal romance pen name, I wrote speculative fiction under Melanie Harding-Shaw. Books published included a (sub)urban fantasy novella Against the Grain, a short story collection Alt-ernate, and the Censored City trilogy of novelettes.
CITY OF SOULS: SOUL COURT ASCENSION BOOK ONE
Winner, Agent’s Choice, RWNZ Great Beginnings Contest
Finalist, Best Novel, Sir Julius Vogel Awards
Bounty hunter Hel’s life depends on staying below the radar and passing as human. But when the infuriating Lord of the City of Souls discovers her hidden power is the key to solving his problems, he reclaims her bond-debt and drags her into the spotlight. He’ll protect her secrets on one condition—that she does everything he asks.Winged necromancer Bastion would do anything to save the city he rules from the strange magic menacing their world. Even blackmail the angry, intriguing bounty hunter who despises him. As the rulers of the elemental courts converge to face the threat, he’s not sure who hates him more—them or Hel. The only way to keep her close is to make her pretend she’s his.With dark magic tearing at the fabric of reality and betrayal lurking behind every corner, Hel and Bastion’s fake relationship becomes the only thing either of them can rely on. But Bastion’s past might just come back to kill him.And Hel’s might kill them all.
Click on the blocked text to read content warnings that contain spoilers:
SHARDS OF STASIS: SOUL COURT ASCENSION BOOK TWO
The reality contagion threatening the Melded Earths might be temporarily stable, but the unintended mating bond between Hel and Bast is anything but. Hel's link to his necromancy is drowning her in deaths. On top of that, ominous shards of stone are emerging from the earth—deadly to both their people and Hel's secrets.If Bast can't find a way to protect Hel from his power, they'll both die leaving the contagion to annihilate their world. With the Lady of Air marshalling her forces, starhounds prowling the city's streets, and their tenuous truce with the other elemental rulers crumbling, Bast is pulled in all directions as he fights to save his mate.Under attack from outside and within, they fly from court to court in desperation. Inextricably bound together, their only hope of survival lies in the same bond that’s killing them.
Click on the blocked text to read content warnings that contain spoilers:
SHRINE OF STARS: SOUL COURT ASCENSION BOOK THREE
The worst has finally happened.The Melded Earths are in chaos, Hel and Kaia are missing, and Bast is waiting for the axe to fall at any moment. His only hope lies with the strange and blood-thirsty vampyr now part of their reality.When Hel awakens, she's far more than a world away. Her hunters have finally caught her and her power is nothing compared to her captor Sol— the Emperor of Suns. As she learns the devastating truth of her heritage, she realises there's no way she can escape.It all comes back to the devouring contagion that's left a shrine of dead stars in its wake and the unbreakable bond between Hel and Bast that will be either their saviour or their death knell.It's not just their lives and their world that hangs in the balance. It's everything.
Click on the blocked text to read content warnings that contain spoilers:
ECHOES OF EARTHSHINE: STANDALONE SEQUEL TO SOUL COURT ASCENSION TRILOGY
Winner, Best Novel, 2025 Sir Julius Vogel Awards
If you insist on coming to my court, you are mine until you leave.The only reason the winged Earth Lord Mica agreed to let the insidious human accompany the elemental girl sent to his court for training was desperation. He fell for Ra's charm and seduction once and the man betrayed his trust. Ra is a too-beautiful distraction he can't afford, but his technology is the only hope of healing his sentient stronghold.Any feelings Ra had for Mica disappeared the moment the elemental turned against his chosen family. Ra doesn't regret extorting Mica, but it's making tensions high now he's living in his home. Ra's focus is providing solace to the niece of his heart Kaia as she trains and solving the puzzle of the broken stronghold before it puts her in danger. If only he wasn't so tempted to provide solace to the broken elemental lord as well.As Mica's people prepare to celebrate 1,000 years of his rule, they have no idea how close they are to ruin. If Ra and Mica can't work together to save the stronghold, the backblast from its death will send a shockwave of destructive magic across a world already reeling from disaster.
Click on the blocked text to read content warnings that contain spoilers:
AGAINST THE GRAIN
Finalist, Best Novella, Sir Julius Vogel Awards
It’s bad enough when your own body tries to attack you, but when dark powers want to as well, running is the only option. Until you can’t.After another casual fling goes horribly wrong, coeliac witch Trinity moves down New Zealand to start over, yet again, in the bush-clad suburb of Karori. On the surface, it seems like the perfect place: from the local bistro below her flat with its gluten-free baking (and its handsome owner) to the mountain bike trails she can escape to.But her fresh start takes a dark turn when she discovers something is trapping her familiar, Saifa, in the suburb. He might take the shape of a pūriri moth as a passive-aggressive joke, but whatever power can hold the ancient demon captive is no laughing matter. If Trinity can’t find and break the anchors of his invisible cage, she could lose everything—her power, her freedom, and her only friend in the world.
ALT-ERNATE: A COLLECTION OF 37 STORIES
Finalist, Best Collection, Sir Julius Vogel Awards
"A deliciously thought-provoking, evocative, and spine-tingling collection." – Cassie Hart, author of ButcherbirdThere are places where the boundaries are thin and a step off the path could take you further than you meant to go.Step off the path and submerge yourself in 37 stories that explore alternate realities, presents, and futures through science fiction, fantasy and horror. Dip your eyes into ethereal worlds, discomfiting climate fiction, heartache-inducing near and far-flung futures, and the creepy darkness that shadows humanity.Alt-ernate is the debut short story collection from author Melanie Harding-Shaw. Alternating between bite-sized micro-fiction and longer stories, it includes five never-before-published stories as well as the first novelette in the Censored City trilogy, Would She Be Gone.
CENSORED CITY TRILOGY
WOULD SHE BE GONE: BOOK ONE CENSORED CITY SERIES
Finalist, Best Novella, Sir Julius Vogel Awards
WHEN THE STATE STEALS YOUR WORDS, YOU STILL HAVE YOUR VOICE. WHEN THEY STEAL YOUR FAMILY, WILL YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH TO USE IT?In the near future, the Librarian Algorithm enforces tailored censorship to protect citizens from stories and words that could cause trauma or crime.Detective Virginia Wright is going undercover in the criminal world of spoken poetry to hunt down suppliers of illegal open-access e-readers. She has buried herself in her work ever since her mother died. But when her remaining family are arrested for literary solicitation, her world starts to crumble. And when the man she is supposed to arrest gives her the most precious gift of all, her moral compass is sent spinning.
COMPACT OF FIRE: BOOK TWO CENSORED CITY SERIES
SOME WORDS ARE HARD TO FORGIVE. SOME MEN ARE HARD TO CONTROL. SOME MISTAKES CAN'T BE UNDONE.In the near future, the Librarian algorithm imposes tailored censorship to protect citizens from ideas that could inflict trauma or incite crime.Political aide Serafina Walker has been in damage control for the secretary of literary safety ever since the actions of a rogue cop sparked a protest movement against state restrictions. She's used to dealing with the grey areas that her boss likes to play in, and the women he likes to play with. But her loyalty is tested when his games take a dark turn. The ends have always justified the means—until now.
HELL IS EMPTY: BOOK THREE CENSORED CITY SERIES
WHEN TRUTH IS MADE BY THOSE IN POWER, EVEN EXPOSING THE LIES MIGHT NOT BE ENOUGHIn the near future, the Librarian algorithm imposes tailored censorship to protect citizens from ideas that could inflict trauma or incite crime.Journalist Deanna Myers has been chasing the censorship debacle right from the start and she's closing in, if only someone would run the story! The more she digs, the more she realises how pervasive the corruption is. But Ganelon Corporation isn't pulling any punches. She will have to rely on her sources to save not just her career, but her life.
CHRONOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLICATIONS2025
AWARDSWinner, Best Novel, 2025 Sir Julius Vogel Awards, for Echoes of EarthshineFinalist, Best Fan Writing, 2025 Sir Julius Vogel Awards, for Your Guide to New Zealand Fantasy Romance novels coming in 2024PUBLISHEDInclusion of sample of ‘Data Migration’ in PBL Works education material for English Language Arts program - grade 8 [March 2025]Reprint and translation into Te Reo Māori of ‘Indenture is a Nervous System’ in Short | Poto, Massey University Press, [12 June 2025]2024
PUBLISHEDYour Guide to New Zealand Fantasy Romance novels coming in 2024, The Spinoff [16 Jan 2024] Non-fiction Free to readSoul Court Ascension: The Complete Trilogy [4 March 2024] - Ebook Box Set - Urban Fantasy / Paranormal RomanceEchoes of Earthshine, [2024] - Novel - MM Paranormal Romance, Winner Best Novel 2025 Sir Julius Vogel Awards2023
AWARDS AND OTHER EXCITING THINGS
Winner, Best Short Story, 2023 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for My Nascent GardenFinalist, Best Novel, 2023 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for City of SoulsPublished
Shards of Stasis, [18 May 2023] Novel - Urban Fantasy / Paranormal RomanceShrine of Stars, [2 November 2023] Novel - Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance2022
AWARDS AND OTHER EXCITING THINGS
Winner, Agent’s Choice (and 2nd place, Editor’s Choice), Romance Writers of New Zealand Great Beginnings Contest for City of SoulsWinner, Best Short Story, 2022 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for Data MigrationFinalist, Best Novella, 2022 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for Against the GrainFinalist, Best Collection, 2022 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for Alt-ernateInterview with Radio New Zealand about Year’s BestInterview with Radio Active and Wellington Libraries about City of SoulsPUBLISHED
‘Unrequited Sonata’ (Reprint), Tales from the Tavern, a Limited Edition Charity Anthology for the NZ Drug Foundation, [1 December 2022] Short Story - FantasyCity of Souls, [9 November 2022] Novel - Urban Fantasy Romance / Paranormal Romance Finalist, Best Novel, Sir Julius Vogel Awards‘Data Migration’ (Reprint), Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy Volume 4, Paper Road Press, [3 October 2022] Short Story - Creepy Cli-Fi Winner, Best Short Story, Sir Julius Vogel Awards‘A Little Dragon Waits’, Frozen Wavelets Issue 7, [2 October 2022] Flash Fiction - Fantasy Free to readWall or Hearth, Etherea Magazine #13, [August 2022] Short Story - Fantasy Free to Read‘A Planet Named Beatrice’ (Reprint), BRAVE NEW GIRLS: CHRONICLES OF MISSES AND MACHINES, Revenue goes to the Society of Women Engineers Scholarship Fund [1 July 2022] Short Story - Middle-Grade Science FictionMy Nascent Garden, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, [July/August 2022] Short Story - Dark Science Fiction Finalist, Best Short Story, Sir Julius Vogel Awards‘From the Ashes’, Available to newsletter subscribers, [April 2022] Short Story - Urban Fantasy Free to read‘GAC ATG ATT ACA’ (Reprint), Aftermath: Stories of Survival in Aotearoa New Zealand, SpecFicNZ Anthology, [23 April 2022] Flash Fiction - Cli-FI2021
AWARDS AND OTHER EXCITING THINGS
Finalist, Best Short Story, 2021 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for ‘Synaesthete’Against the Grain inclusion in Pantograph Punch and Verb Festival “Book Coven” bookclubSpeaker at Verb Literary FestivalQualified for Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Active Member statusFeatured Indie Author Spotlight, Etherea Magazine Issue 5, December 2022PUBLISHED
‘Between the Lines’, Midnight Echo 16, Australasian Horror Writers Association Magazine, [November 2021] Acrostic Epistolary Microfiction Story - Horror‘Synaethete’ and ‘A Love Note’, Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume 3, Paper Road Press, [1 Nov 21] Short Stories‘The Comfort of Fiction’, Coeliac Link Magazine, Coeliac New Zealand [October 2021] Non-fiction - Personal EssayData Migration, Strange Horizons, [12 July 2021] Short story - Creepy Cli-Fi Free to read, Winner, Best Short Story, Sir Julius Vogel Awards‘Introducing Comfort Fiction for Coeliacs’, The Spinoff, [9 June 2021] Non-fiction - Personal Essay Free to readAgainst the Grain [7 June 2021] Novella - (Sub)Urban Fantasy with a dash of romance, Finalist, Best Novella, Sir Julius Vogel Awards‘Synaesthete’, (Reprint) Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volume 6, [25 May 2021] Short Story - HorrorAlt-ernate: A Collection of 37 Stories [9 April 2021] Short Story Collection - Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror, Finalist, Best Collection, Sir Julius Vogel Awards2020
AWARDS AND OTHER EXCITING THINGS
Award for Services to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, 2020 Sir Julius Vogel AwardsFinalist, Best Short Story, 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for ‘The Fisher’, The Reading Room: Newsroom Website, Free to readFinalist, Best Novelette/Novella, 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for Would She Be GoneFinalist, Best New Talent, 2020 Sir Julius Vogel AwardsFinalist, Wright-Murray Residency for Speculative Fiction WritersScience Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) MenteeSpeaker at Manawatu Writers FestivalSpeaker at Verb Wellington, Newtown Sunday StrollPUBLISHED
‘A Second Chance’, Midnight Echo 15, AHWA, [30 Nov 20] Flash - Horror‘A Playground Awaits’, Poetry for the Thoughtful Young, B Cubed Press, [9 October 2020] Poem - FantasyRadio Silence, Frozen Wavelets, Free to read, [21 Sept 20] Drabble - Science FictionCommon Denominator, (Reprint) Wild Musette Journal, Free to read, [3 August 2020] Short Story - Science Fiction‘The Fisher’, (Reprint) Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume 2, Paper Road Press, [July 2020] - Slipstream‘The Fisher’, (Reprint) The Best of British Fantasy 2019, Newcon Press, [30 June 2020] Short Story - Slipstream‘Synaesthete’, Black Dogs, Black Tales: A Mental Health Charity Anthology, Things in the Well Press [17 May 2020] Short Story - Horror Finalist, Best Short Story, Sir Julius Vogel Awards‘Love Cage’, ‘Only Child’, and ‘A Love Note’, Takahē 98, Free to read, [April 2020] Series of Microfiction - Fantasy and Science FictionHell is Empty, [7 April 2020] Novelette - Science FictionA Fairy Tale, NewMyths.com, Free to read, [15 March 2020] Short Story - Fantasy‘An Eye for an Eye’, Frozen Wavelets Issue Issue 2.1, Free to read, [29 February 2020] Short Story (Flash Fiction) - Dark FantasyEDITED
Black Dogs, Black Tales: A Mental Health Anthology [Assistant Editor], Things in the Well Press [17 May 2020] Short Story - Horror2019
AWARDS AND OTHER EXCITING THINGS
Finalist, Best Short Story, 2019 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for ‘A Devoted Husband’ published in Breach ZineFinalist, Micro Madness Competition 2019, National Flash Fiction Day for ‘See Me’PUBLISHED
‘GAC ATG ATT ACA’ (Reprint), Little Blue Marble 2019 anthology, [27 December 2019] Short Story (Flash Fiction) - Science FictionGAC ATG ATT ACA, Little Blue Marble website, Free to read, [13 December 2019] Short Story (Flash Fiction) - Science Fiction‘A Planet Named Beatrice’, 2019 Young Explorer's Adventure Guide, Dreaming Robot Press [10 December 2019] Short Story - Middle-Grade Science Fiction‘A Squash of Commuters’ and ‘A Galactic Symphony’, Apocalypse: Dark Drabbles #6, Black Hare Press, [9 December 2019] Drabble (100-word story) - Science FictionCompact of Fire: A Censored City Novelette, [November 2019] Novelette - Science Fiction‘Common Denominator’ (Reprint), Year's Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume I, Paper Road Press, [1 Nov 2019] Short Story - Science FictionWould She Be Gone: A Censored City Novelette [October 2019] Novelette - Science Fiction Finalist, Best Novelette/Novella, Sir Julius Vogel Awards‘The Gift of Time’, New Orbit Magazine, [October 2019] Short Story - Science FictionThe Fisher, The Reading Room: Newsroom Website, Free to read, [5 October 2019] Short Story - Slipstream Finalist, Best Short Story, Sir Julius Vogel Awards‘The Six Stages of Revenge’, Trickster’s Treats #3, Things in the Well [September 2019] Short Story (Flash) - Horror (Charity Anthology raising funds for charity:water)Unrequited Sonata, NewMyths.com, Free to read, [15 September 2019] Short Story - Fantasy‘She was no witch’, ‘Green is more than skin deep’, ‘Break glass in case of emergency’, Curses & Cauldrons, Blood Song Books [31 August 2019] Drabbles (100-word stories) - Horror, Fantasy, and Science FictionStrands of Our Tomorrows, The Arcanist, Free to read, Podcast available (Episode 6), [9 August 2019] Short Story - Fantasy‘Indenture is a Nervous System’, Worlds: Dark Drabbles #1, Black Hare Press, [25 June 2019] Drabble (100-word story) - Science Fiction‘See Me’, Micro Madness 2019 Finalist, [12 June 2019] Micro - Fantasy‘An Avian Introduction’, GeyserCon Book: Something Strange Happened in Rotorua Competition, Not available for purchase [31 May 2019] Prose Poem - FantasyA New Cold War, Daily Science Fiction, Free to read, [23 April 2019] Short Story - Science Fiction/Climate Fiction‘When supermarkets go bad’, Breach Zine Issue 10, [March 2019] Poem - Dark Fantasy2018
AWARDS AND OTHER EXCITING THINGS
Finalist, Micro Madness Competition 2018, National Flash Fiction Day for ‘Big Brother’PUBLISHED
‘Revolutions’, New Orbit Magazine Issue 4 [November 2018] Short Story - Science Fiction‘A Devoted Husband’, Breach Zine Issue 9 [November 2018] Short Story - Dark Fantasy Finalist, Best Short Story, Sir Julius Vogel Awards‘Common Denominator’, Wild Musette Journal Issue 1802 [October 2018] Short Story - Science Fiction‘Big Brother’, Micro Madness 2018 Finalist, [13 June 2018] Micro - Science Fiction
Aotearoa New Zealand Speculative Fiction
I host an unofficial crowd-sourced spreadsheet of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror works from Aotearoa New Zealand to help nominations for New Zealand's Sir Julius Vogel Awards. You can find the spreadsheet here.I also run a Facebook group for Wellington speculative fiction writers/artists and organise semi-regular in person meet-ups. You can find the group at Wellington Speculative Fiction Creatives.
About
Mel/Melanie Harding-Shaw is a pākehā paranormal romance and speculative fiction writer from Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her debut novel, City of Souls won Agent’s Choice in the RWNZ Great Beginnings Contest and was a finalist for Best Novel in the Sir Julius Vogel Awards. Her standalone MM sequel to the Soul Court Ascension trilogy, Echoes of Earthshine, won Best Novel at the 2025 Sir Julius Vogel Awards.She is also a widely published award-winning short story writer, with over 50 publications including in Takahē, Strange Horizons, Analog, Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy and The Best of British Fantasy. She’s published five books of short fiction and won Best Short Story in the 2022 and 2023 Sir Julius Vogel Awards.She won an award for Services to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in the 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards.You can find her at www.melaniehardingshaw.com and on social media.
Contact
If you’d like a free ebook and periodic emails with new releases, writing updates and books you might like, please subscribe to my newsletter on my home page.If you'd like to check out my spreadsheet of NZ science fiction, fantasy and horror works, head to my nzspecfic page.And if you’d like to get in touch, please email me on: [email protected]